Chelsea had wealth of possession in the first 20 minutes aside from a Roberto Firmino half-chance that went out for a Liverpool corner.

The best chance of the early throes deservedly went to Chelsea, with Alisson Becker racing off his line to thwart Willian‘s left-footed plan.

The Blues’ well-earned lead came when Hazard met a terrific ball from Mateo Kovacic and beat Alisson with a low left-footed shot.

The play began with Hazard deep in the midfield, working a quick exchange and then flying down field to meet Kovacic’s invitation.

Amazing work from Mohamed Salah nearly leveled the score line in the 32nd minute, as he out-battled David Luiz and Kepa Arrizabalaga only to see his sharp-angled effort cleared off the goal line by Antonio Rudiger.

Real moved to within three rounds of a third-straight UEFA Champions League title, which has only been done by three clubs and not since 1976, by controlling Neymar-less Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

One of those three clubs, by the way, is Real. They won the first five European Cups, although the tournament was far less challenging in 1960.

“They had the ball more than us but we were very aggressive. It’s difficult to beat us when we play like that. It’s amazing how it’s changed when we play in the Champions League.

“This club is born to play in the Champions League.”

This “threepeat,” however, would be next level, with the world as competitive as ever. Real has a big advantage, however, in that it will it merely needs to avoid a horrendous league finish to qualify for another UCL and can focus on the tournament proper.

Real boss Zinedine Zidane was pleased to come through the encounter in Paris.

“It was a tough match,” he said. “I’m pleased. I must congratulate the players as they’re the ones on the pitch. Bravo to them. This is a tough ground to come to, the atmosphere is fantastic. We deserved to get through the tie.”

The quarterfinals are setting up to be giants only aside from Shakhtar Donetsk’s tie with Roma. But even with Neymar’s absence, Real put a significant mount on its wall in dismissing PSG.

Messi opened the scoring with fewer than three minutes on the clock, finishing a quick counter-attack down the right side of the box with a quick cut inside and a fortuitous deflection.

Just as quickly as Messi made it 1-0, Rakitic made it 2-0, in the 7th minute. Luis Suarez touched Neymar’s cross past himself to the waiting Croatian, whose first-time, perfectly placed shot beat Keylor Navas with ease.

Seven minutes later, Mateo Kovacic pulled Madrid back to within a goal. The 23-year-old Croatian slalomed past three defenders 25 yards out, squared himself to the goal and fired past Jasper Cillessen, who had no chance at making the save.

Nine minutes before halftime, Marco Asensio drew Madrid back onto level terms with a confident finish to complete a lightning-quick, three-on-two counter. Karim Benzema played the decoy as Asensio and Kovacic played the ball back and forth before Asensio slammed it home with Cillessen sent to his right and the shot to his left.

Barca’s winner came five minutes into the second half, when Neymar’s free kick found a completely unmarked Pique at the top of the six-yard box. The finish was textbook as the 10,000 times he’s done it in training, and that was that — a 3-2 victory for Barca in the first “Clasico” played on foreign soil in 35 years.